WILD HARE WEEKLY SPRING 7/12
Green Garlic season has arrived! We are especially fond of Green Garlic, because it helps us achieve maximum flavor with minimal effort (especially during planting season when our effort is being expended left and right at all hours). It looks a lot like a Green Onion; however, its aroma and flavor are 100% garlicky goodness. Unlike its bulbous and cured counterparts, this young tender delicacy is loaded with fresh oils that are ready to impart incredible flavor into your marinades, dressings, soups, salads and more. So many delicious dishes start with a bit of olive oil, chopped stalks of Green Garlic and whatever vegetables and proteins I've been neglecting in the fridge. Sprouting Broccoli? Into the garlic. Random greens? Into the garlic. Nuts, Prawns, Tofu? Into the garlic. Potatoes? Asparagus? Pizza? Grains? Pasta? You guessed it—dress them up with Green Garlic.
Egg-cellent Spring Vegetables! →
WILD HARE WEEKLY SPRING 6/12
The sweet hen you see is making the most of a delicious Chicken Chicory patch that Mark plants for our youngest hens to enjoy—they’re still too young and far too vulnerable to be out in the field with the number of birds of prey that we coexist with here at the farm, but they seem to enjoy having access to fresh air and leafy greens just as much as their big sisters do. Whether you’re celebrating Easter, Passover, a New Year or another great day to be alive, we’ve got another delicious week of Springtime vegetables and plenty of Pasture-Raised Organic Eggs from those Wild Hare Hens in store this week. Here are a few tips that I share every year that I hope will help you in addition to the recipes that you’ll find after the “read on” jump.
Beets--they're what's for breakfast? →
WILD HARE WEEKLY SPRING 5/12
Hi. My name is Katie Green, and I eat beets for breakfast. Oh, I know. It catches the ear all kinds of wrong at first. Wait, what did she just say? Beets? Not only does this woman expect me to actually EAT BEETS, she wants me to eat them for BREAKFAST?! Has this woman lost her ever-loving mind?
Maybe a little, but I would blame running the farm as a whole for that—not just the beets. You see, over the winter I hit a wall, and I realized that I needed to make a much more intentional effort to take better care of myself than I had for the prior four years of keeping this place going strong. This took the form of me “reconnecting with my why,” which a good portion of the time looks like me surrounding myself with a bunker of books, Matilda style. I’m not sure why exactly, but one of the cookbooks that I added to my fortress late last year shook something up for me in a way that I really needed. The book? Dining In by Alison Roman. The saturated photos, super chic flat lighting yet straightforward way in which she presents recipes had me hooked. It isn’t a health food book by any means, but it has done wonders for my heart and our kitchen. It is just my kind of book. The recipes in particular? A simple batch of Vinegar Roasted Beets and another for a savory Granola that has all of the elements of the perfect Everything Bagel minus the bagel. But here’s the kicker, for all of my enthusiasm and inspiration, the people with whom I live do not get excited about eating beets. So, I did what made sense to me at the time—I made it for breakfast, the meal that everyone in the house tends to do their own thing for anyway. And then I roasted up another batch and had it again and again. Since then, I’ve sprinkled Alison Roman’s “Decidedly Not Sweet Granola” on everything from roasted Rutabagas, to Broccoli, to Avocados and Cucumbers. And as a result, I’m starting my day with a batch-cooked (but somehow still indulgent) dish of dietary fiber, iron and all kinds of other nutrients that I don’t have to share with ANYONE else in my house. It is mom/wife/me time heaven, and a meal like this leaves me feeling remarkably good and ready to face whatever shenanigans the farm tosses my way. So that’s my advice. In a funk? Hit the library—and don’t just settle for having breakfast for dinner—eat those veggies for breakfast people—especially the ones your family members don’t love as much as you do. And when you’re ready to please a crowd again, take that Purple Sprouting Broccoli and make them some Smitten Kitchen Broccoli Pizza. Of course, the life-affirming, game-changing, serotonin-inducing recipes I’ve described are linked at the end of this week’s newsletter.
Have a great week!
Katie